The 40th Anniversary of ProVUE at Macworld Expo

Jim Rea:

Forty years ago today the doors opened for the very first Macworld Expo in the Brooks Hall basement in San Francisco. For most of you this event probably seems like ancient history, somewhere back in the mists of time. But for me this was a very real and exciting event that I participated in as an exhibitor, the start of my amazing journey with the Mac community, a journey that continues on today.

As I recall there were two or three dozen software booths that first year. Some of the software on display included Multiplan (Microsoft), PFS:File, Think Tank, FileVision, Mac Slots, Habadex, Mac Draft, Mac Lion, Music Works, Click Art and of course OverVUE (the direct predecessor to today’s Panorama X). Of course all of these companies have long since disappeared, except for two — Microsoft and ProVUE Development. I’d say that’s a pretty nice club.

I’m quite proud to have kept ProVUE Development in the Macintosh database business every single day from then to now. The RAM based database concepts I started with in 1984 are still the core of the software today, of course much further developed. In fact, if you look at screen shots of the original OverVUE from 1984, and Panorama X from 2025, the family resemblance is unmistakeable. On the left is 68k assembly code using the original Mac ROMs, on the right is Objective-C using AppKit, but the concepts are the same. There are even databases that have been brought forward from the left all the way to the right — in continuous use over four decades!

There are old-school Mac developers still going strong, and there are old school Mac developers still going strong. I’m not sure about this “Microsoft” company, but ProVUE’s achievement here is quite remarkable. Read through for Rea’s 40% discount code to celebrate this 40-year anniversary.

★ Friday, 21 February 2025